Levin: ‘I will be back in action’

University President Richard Levin, who underwent surgery for prostate cancer in April, will be on hand for this weekend’s Commencement festivities.

Levin has stayed out of his Woodbridge Hall office for most of the past three weeks so that he could focus on recuperating. But, while he will miss a few events this weekend, he will give the Baccalaureate Address and lead Monday’s Commencement ceremony as usual.

“I will be back in action and I will give all of my speeches,” Levin said Wednesday.

While the president said his surgery, which took place on April 30 at a hospital in New York City, was successful, he added that the subsequent recovery has been difficult at times.

“I don’t have my normal energy,” said Levin, who is 62. “It’s surprising how much this kind of surgery takes out of you. But I’m recovering well and doing a lot of walking and getting back in shape.”

During Levin’s time away from the office, University Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer and Provost Peter Salovey have split his duties, with Salovey focusing on academic and budgeting operations and Lorimer on everything else. Levin, for his part, said he will work half-days for the next few weeks and resume his full workload sometime in June.

In the meantime, Lorimer said in a phone interview, the president’s Blackberry has been “turned off and his mail rerouted. … We just want him to rest and get better.”

Levin’s cancer was caught early, during a routine physical exam in April. His surgery took place less than two weeks after the doctors had diagnosed him with the cancer.